Comics for mathematics instruction for future-ready learners
In this paper we present the views that the roles of comics for mathematics instruction extend beyond the role of addressing the affective needs of students, in particular the lower achieving students. We argue that within the broader framework of contextualization, comics have the potential to reach out to the entire spectrum of students to develop their higher order thinking skills and even raise their cognizance to environmental issues. Two exemplars based on the research carried out by us are presented.
Scaling up the education research: Magical (SUPERMAGICAL): use of comics in teaching mathematics.
Using comics to contextualise the teaching of percentages: An adaptation of a comics-based teaching package for primary school mathematics classrooms
In this article, an adaptation of a secondary school mathematics comics-based instructional package for primary school mathematics classroom, and the teachers' and students' perceptions about the use of comics in the classroom are discussed. Further suggestions by the teachers on fine-tuning the package are also discussed.
Twelve questions on mathematics teaching: Snapshots from a study of the enacted school mathematics curriculum in Singapore
Use of comics to enhance students’ learning for the development of the 21st century competencies in the mathematics classroom
This paper discusses the use of comics in teaching mathematics in the secondary mathematics classroom. We explicate how the use of comics in teaching mathematics can prepare students for the twenty-first century competencies. We developed an alternative teaching package using comics for two lower secondary mathematics topics. This alternative teaching package consists of (i) several sets of comic strips expounding all related mathematical concepts in a lively way; (ii) tiered practice questions for learning reinforcement; and (iii) a set of proposed lesson outlines with suggestions on how to use the comics for mathematics teaching. We also report how one of the teachers in our study used this teaching package in her mathematics lessons. Her lessons were video-recorded and eleven students were interviewed to help us understand how the mathematics comics lessons were enacted and the students’ perception of comics as instruction. We identified instances in which the teacher tweaked the provided resource to further enhance student learning and incorporated elements of the twenty-first century competencies during her lessons. Through selected student interviews, we also identified instances in which students commented on their gain from the new approach from the perspective of the twenty-first century competencies.